In the telecommunications industry, it is often necessary to electrically connect and/or reconfigure connections by way of which telecommunications signals are provided to subscribers. Such connections may have to be made or to be reconfigured to provide service to one or more subscribers in a building, a group of buildings or individual units within a building.
It is desirable to provide a plurality of relatively easily replaceable, interchangeable and reconfigurable connections in a single location (for a particular building, for example), such that connections and/or changes to connections may be made with a minimum effort. A device capable of providing one or more electrical connections is referred to herein as a “terminal connector”.
There is a general desire to locate terminal connectors in weather resistant housings which may be conveniently located in outdoor locations, such that connections may be made, changed and/or reconfigured by service technicians of telecom companies or other service providing organizations without having to enter buildings.
It may also be desirable to install such terminal connector housings in a recess of a building wall between building wall layers. Such installation causes an interruption in the external layer(s) of buildings. If a recess is not adequately sealed, moisture may intrude into or between the layers of the building wall, damaging the building wall over time and eventually resulting in the need for repair or replacement of the building wall. Moisture or other foreign material may also intrude past the housing into the building recess and possibly into the building itself. For these reasons, there is a general desire to provide housings which deter inward movement of and prevent or minimize the intrusion of moisture between building wall layers. It is desirable that moisture or water accumulating between the housing and the wall be conveyed away from the housing past the most exterior wall layer.